The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to disclosed embodiments.
In the field of computing, systems implement pipelined backbone protocols to separate issuance of transactions by an agent. Issued transactions are typically separated into two phases: (1) requests by agent, and (2) grant by backbone. Such pipelined backbone protocols allow an agent to present multiple requests to a backbone for the same request channel, regardless of whether or not previous requests have been granted by the backbone. Grants by the backbone within the same request channel are typically required to follow the order of the request presented by the agent to the backbone. One exemplary pipelined backbone protocol is the Intel On-Chip System Fabric (IOSF).
Such pipelined backbone protocols may however become burdened from multiple request channels, each having agents issuing requests to the backbone, resulting in contention and inefficiency. Further still, ordering may become chaotic and unpredictable when multiple masters, each capable of issuing requests, are interfaced to a backbone.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from systems, mechanisms, and methods for enabling multiple bus master engines to share the same request channel to a pipelined backbone as described herein.